


Proximity: Teddy

by JLKnox



Series: Principles of Gestalt [1]
Category: The Rook (TV 2019)
Genre: DTR, Mafia Marshmallow, Multi, Mystalt, Other, Post-Series, SBD, Sexual Tension, So much talking, Stern Brunch Daddy, Thug-in-a-suit, Unresolved Romantic Tension, vaguely-threatening sexuality
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-25
Updated: 2019-08-25
Packaged: 2020-10-01 20:22:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20394076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JLKnox/pseuds/JLKnox
Summary: Although she really thought she might, Myf didn't leave, but she's stayed away from the Chequy. Her subconscious has been bringing her close to Gestalt every day, however, and it's finally too hard to keep missing her. Teddy is chosen to go talk to her -- by himself.---She crosses her arms and sets her jaw. “I thought you said you’d be alright with me leaving.”“An I meant what I said: if y’left, I’d miss ya; so I spent the past few weeks missin’ ya.” I have Teddy look up at her, wistfully. “But when I seen y’ain’t left yet, there dinnint seem t’be any reason t’miss ya, so I fot I would come an check on my friend.” Teddy’s expression is between kindness and hurt, and I look at her full-on. “I wanted t’see how ya been dealin since Danilov’s.”“You…saw I hadn’t left? And how exactly did you do that? Is the King having you follow me again?”





	Proximity: Teddy

I just happened to be looking out the South windows in the bedroom as Myf ran by – at the same time as the past ten nights – and out the East windows in the sitting room as she turned the corner. She may not consciously remember where my flat is, but muscle memory is a hell of a thing, and her new jogging route brings a precise pain to only me as her body brings her near every night.

It just happens to be a rare night when all of me is at home at the same time – no random assignments, secret ops or stakeouts at all hours today. I move Eliza into the sitting room and bring Alex in to join the others, after he finishes in the lav, hands jammed into his tracksuit jacket pockets. I look at myselves, considering.

She said she was leaving, and she seemed to appreciate Alex’s boyish delivery of my quick parting thought. But she hasn’t gone, and that parting thought grows more complex with every day that she stays. Eliza is the one she kissed, and the one she professed to, begged to give her a second chance. But in that speech, she said she needed to feel intense emotion, and Robert was the body she had sex with. But all her most intense memories are of Glengrove…and there…and in the memory she wrote of…it was always Teddy.

I stand up, move to the closet to get my suitcoat, and leave silently. The car moves faster than her running feet, even through London traffic, and despite having a lead on me, I am sure I’ve arrived before her. I park in her building’s lot and slip around the corner to a pub. Teddy’s back is to the wall, facing the street windows. Two women at the bar talk softly together and glance pointedly at Teddy – either damaged goods or gold diggers, the only two types really attracted to his intense demeanor and dress sense – but they’re quickly discouraged by a sharp look and an extraordinary focus on the street outside.

Myfanwy’s familiar form travels up the street, her pace slowing a few blocks away as she walks a cooldown to her building’s door. Teddy stands abruptly. Robert and Alex sit down slowly at home and Teddy, straightening his jacket, does the same. She’ll need at least twenty minutes to shower and change. Eliza paces for me and I have Robert make two cups of calming tea. I bring all my thumbs to my mouths thoughtlessly. When I do notice, Teddy blushes and curls his lip in that half smile, and Alex is his mirror. All my bodies are aroused by remembering that moment in the archives, but Teddy’s body has always reacted a little more strongly, a little more quickly, to the effect she has on us.

Alex brings up a work file on a tablet, dry and boring. Robert hands the teas to Eliza and Alex before he moves into a meditative pose and clears his mind. Eliza continues to pace. Teddy concentrates on his breath – seven in, seven out – working his way up to ten. The timer I set on Teddy’s phone goes off while he’s transitioning to nine and I jump up, drop a fiver on the table and practically race out the door and into traffic. It’s a risk in a charcoal-grey suit while it’s getting darker out, but the quad-platinum hair can stop cars on its own, reflecting the streetlights as I walk anywhere I choose.

I enter her building and ask the doorman to ring her. He’s new, doesn’t recognize me, so when he tells me what floor, I thank him without mentioning that I helped her pick out the flat several years ago. On the longish lift ride, I try to lower Teddy’s blood pressure and keep him from hyperventilating. Eliza goes to run a hot bath, Alex and Robert continue their routines. I’m nervous: there’s no way to know how she’ll react to seeing me, even if she did allow me up.

In the past, OldMyf would leave the door cracked open and let me in while she went about her business, but today the door is still locked. After the events of the past month, it does not surprise me: not only does she not have those decades of familiarity, but with her heightened notoriety, she should – as I’ve mentioned on multiple occasions – always lock her doors. Teddy smiles to myself as I remember and stand him in front of the door’s camera to prove I am the name I gave downstairs.

She opens the door in jeans, a tee and cardigan, and the lack of familiarity strikes me again. She barely knows me, she wouldn’t answer the door in workout pants and a tank – like she used to – any more than she would leave the door cracked open for me. Here I am, visiting, making her get dressed in what could be a third outfit today. Teddy’s expression falters, and she notices, but I quickly rebound and give her a small grin.

“Oi, NewMyf. Cn’I come in?” I jerk Teddy’s head toward the room behind her and angle his shoulder as if he just will anyway, and she steps back with the doorknob in hand to allow his bigger frame room. “Fanks. Good t’seeya.”

I walk in, past the offshoot kitchen, around the corner to open the coat closet.

“Sure,” she says with a mix of sarcasm and resignation. “Just you?,” she asks as she looks down the hall. “I thought more bodies were better.”

I take off Teddy’s suitcoat, hang it up inside, and close the door, leaving him in shirtsleeves and suspenders, and lean him up against the door, with his right ankle and arms crossed. Not quite threatening.

“Don worry – I’m all at home right now. You have my undivided attention…an no Jeeps will be harmed.” A raised eyebrow on my part gets a small grin from her. “But I ain’t want to intimidate ya wif a buncha me, make ya feel like I was gangin up on ya.”

“So you just barge in here with the you whose primary purpose is interrogations. Yup, I’m perfectly at ease.”

She claps her hands together, rocks back on her heels, and fixes me with a glare as I shrug. I mentally shrug off her dig about Teddy being ‘the muscle’ – not like it takes keen observation skills to establish that. But maybe she’s right, these days she seems to relate better to Eliza, maybe I chose poorly. “Make yourself at home, I guess.” She’s a little offput. Good. “I’d offer you a drink, but I’m guessing if you wanted one, you’d have already taken it.”

“I can never remember which cupboard has the drinking glasses; but if yer offerin, a water’d be nice.”

She huffs a little and turns back toward the kitchen. I have him follow at a polite distance, Teddy’s specialty may be intimidation, but that’s not what I have in mind as of yet. Myfanwy doesn’t have to guess which cupboard has the glasses – and neither would I, but I wanted to see – she goes right to them and brings one down to the filter pitcher on the counter. Her other hand opens the freezer and clinks a handful of ice into the glass, then she hands the drink to Teddy. I raise his eyebrow while looking down and smirking.

“What?” She asks, she’s a little on the defensive, but not angry yet. “Is that not to your liking?”

“Nahh – s’perfect, fanks.” I have him smile again and lean back against the counter, stretching Teddy’s legs toward the sink, so Myf would have to step over him to leave the kitchen area. And the drink _is_ perfect – exactly the way Teddy likes it – the ice bothers the fraternals’ cold-sensitive teeth, so they take it room-temperature, like Myfanwy does.

“So, what are you/wotcher doing/doon here?” We both ask in unison, with our different accents. Teddy grins and crunches the ice, as usual. As usual, she cringes. I laugh quietly at the old routine, but harden Teddy’s gaze slightly, crunching more, making it apparent that I’m not going first.

“It’s my flat, Gestalt, that’s what I’m doing here.” But she falters a little, putting her hand back toward the counter to lean on and finding the sink ledge instead. Eliza smiles and Alex outright laughs, back in the freedom of my flat, where Myf can’t see.

“Ah. I see. Right. Grantchester said you was on leave… an you said you might leave…so I fot you might…fucking...leave.” I flick Teddy’s gaze between the glass and Myfanwy’s face.

She crosses her arms and sets her jaw. “I thought you said you’d be alright with me leaving.”

“An I meant what I said: if y’left, I’d miss ya; so I spent the past few weeks missin’ ya.” I have Teddy look up at her, wistfully. “But when I seen y’ain’t left yet, there dinnint seem t’be any reason t’miss ya, so I fot I would come an check on my friend.” Teddy’s expression is between kindness and hurt, and I look at her full-on. “I wanted t’see how ya been dealin since Danilov’s.”

“You…_saw_ I hadn’t left? And how exactly did you do that? Is the King having you follow me again?”

She’s heating up, so I try to break the tension by heading to the sitting room, talking as Teddy goes so she’ll be prompted to follow. “I ain’t gotta fucking follow ya – not wit y’comin round my place every night for the past two fucking weeks.” I crunch more ice. Robert bites his thumb, and Alex and Eliza sip their teas, staring into the swirl of their cups.

“Coming round? I haven’t seen you –“

“Yer joggin. You run right past my buildin.”

“Oh, I see. Well, I can change my route if you tell me which streets to avoid.” We pause near the seats and I give her a patented twin half-grin.

“Now why t'fuck would I wan that? Lease dis way, I know yer awrright.” It’s so difficult to keep the low-rumbling threat, and hurt, out of Teddy’s tone. Maybe I’m not trying that hard.

“I swear, Gestalt, I didn’t know.”

I move Teddy closer to her, too close, but giving her enough room to get to a chair if she wants. I lower his voice to say, “Seems like yer body knows all kinda fings yer brain don’t.” She moves toward me, like she has every time I’ve done this since the memory wipe. The air contracts, like a solid thing between us, pulling us together and pushing us apart simultaneously. When Teddy’s free hand touches her elbow, she startles, and moves to sit down – exactly in the same spot where she always does: on the couch at the end nearest the panic room. “Like how I like my water,” I jingle the ice cubes, “An where y’always sit.” I jerk his head toward her and move his body to the chair across the coffee table from her.

She looks down and shrugs. “Muscle memory has been studied over and over. We know it goes deeper than consciousness. It doesn’t prove anything, Gestalt, about how well I know you. And because I do a few things the same as I used to…it doesn’t mean I’m the same person.”

“No, ya definitely ain’t. You fink I dunno that? Me, of all people, who spends a considerable amount a time considerin what makes a person who they are? I know yer more than yer fuckin memories, NewMyf, an yer more than yer body.” I stare into the depths of Teddy’s tumbler. I look at Alex’s tablet, and the inside of Robert’s eyelids. Eliza gets undressed for her bath, looking in the mirror and I consider again, why this body – her body – fits into me, and think of the memories it holds differently than the others. “But another part of who y’are is what y’do. An I cleaned up Danilov’s. I saw what happened. I know OldMyf couldna made the choice you did.”

I drain Teddy’s glass and give her a smile that I hope looks supportive – it’s meant to be, but Teddy’s been conditioned for one thing. It's too easy for this body to sound -- and look -- angry. Alex gets up and pours some whisky into his tea.

“And you have opinions? About that?”

“I fink _you_ should have opinions about that. Y’were kidnapped, escaped, chose ta go back, came into yer own – incredibly strong – power, an kilt a man on purpose for t'first time. Seems like the kinda fing that might make ya fink.”

She’s nodding, processing slowly. “It’s hard to know what to think, since I have so little to go on about how that’s different from ‘me’. Since you’re here, I’d love to hear your thoughts.” Now it’s my turn to nod and consider. Maybe consider a stronger drink. I look down at the water glass in Teddy’s hands. And at the tablet in Alex’s. And at the bathroom wall. And at the inside of Robert’s eyelids. I swirl the leftover icemelt in Teddy’s empty drink.

“Well it def’nitely means you’ve changed. An that’s natural.” I get up and Teddy walks over to a cubby under the window – near the vinyl cabinets – and grab some glasses and the …_extremely_ nice… bottle of Scotch I’d gotten her as a gift. Teddy’s breath hitches but I remind myself that she had no idea; it wasn’t a slight. “Anyone, at any time, is free to be whoever they want. They can change feelins, they can change jobs, they can even change why they do the same job they’ve always done. An that’s okay. That’s even…good.”

When Teddy is able to stop being threatening, he’s got an openness about him that reaches inside people. It makes him good at getting them to talk. Myfanwy sees this and looks surprised. I pour us both a generous finger of the good stuff: a highball glass from the bar for her, and straight into Teddy’s kitchen glass with half-melted rocks.

“You really do know your way around, don’t you?”

“Tole you – we’re friends.” I hand her the drink and sit down near her on the couch, angled in to her but not touching. She looks into it, neat, the way OldMyf liked it, takes a breath and a healthy sip.

“And you don’t think the fact that I killed someone changes our friendship?”

“Course it does, puts us on more even footin,” Teddy’s wolfish grin works and she laughs, nearly snorting 25 year single malt through her nose, but she recovers.

“Well, I have a counselor to talk through all that with. Government-issued, so I can even mention the killing. Must do, actually. But seriously, that day at Danilov’s really changed my mind…” she looks up and clearly into Teddy’s too-blue eyes, “…about a lot of things.”

All my eyebrows raise. Robert opens his eyes. Alex puts away the report and gets out a game controller. That’s interesting to hear. Teddy’s heart flutters and his breath gets just slightly shallower. “Hmm,” is all I can make the body say for a good minute.

“Well, that’s good, the counselor – ‘s’one fing they get right over there. Butcha need more, Myf, ya need friends.” I lean Teddy back against the back of the couch, elbow propping up his head. “When I went frew dis – back at Glengrove, learnin, practicin, doin – it really helped ta have folks ta just talk to bout nowt, goof around wif, be distracted.” I give her a pretty pointed look.

“Yanno, part of who y’are is also who ya surround yerself wif, an there ain’t too many EVAs to choose from.” She laughs. “Honestly, I dunno how y’can decide that, if y’ain’t give folks a chance to show ya who they are; if ya stay alone all the time.” She tilts her head, thinking. “You have people who are willin t’help ya, Myf – be whoevva you wanna be.”

She looks down at her hands, maybe hidin a smile? A sad smile? Dammit, without any other bodies in here I can’t get the scope of her face. And for the millionth time in my life, I think how difficult life must be as only one person.

“I just…I don’t want that pressure. I felt it just now, when you said that about Glengrove and I know you were hinting that I was a person who helped you through training. I’m guessing that knowing you helped me, too, but I don’t _know_ it for a fact. All I know is that I can’t be that person unless I remember, and I’m not sure it will be enough for –“ she looks into my face, maybe a little longingly “—everyone.” She puts her own elbow on the back of the couch, mirroring me.

Robert gets up and starts pacing now. Eliza sits up in the tub. Alex looks up from his video game. I put Teddy’s drink on a coaster on the table and look at her.

“I fink, NewMyf, you might be underestimating –“ I take her drink from her hand and put it on the table before touching her fingertips again, “—everyone’s –“ I squeeze her fingers, “ability to adapt.” I pause for a breath. Teddy’s heart flutters and his breath is shallow, I force a long inhale. “An their willinness to help.” I smile slightly, just curled up at the corners. “Ingrid tol me ya was actin diff’rent an she just rolled wif it.”

Myfanwy rolls her eyes and groans. “You know – I only remember about a month, and even I have heard that one.” She takes her hand back and adjusts her weight on the couch, “And I know enough to know it’s awful.”

“Ya can’t spect me to have a bran-new audience for all my ol tired jokes an not take advantage ovvit, can ya?”

“So what – this is your distraction technique? – booze and bad jokes?”

“Izzit werkin?” I lean in, but with a goofy grin on Teddy’s face, and she leans a little closer.

“It’s not _not_ working, but I think it would work better coming from Alex. He can pull that kind of thing off.” I shrug Teddy’s shoulders; they are twins, his face and demeanor are not entirely devoid of Alex’s charm, but sometimes those types of expressions look awkward, unpracticed on Teddy. She laughs and gets up, picking up our glasses. “I’ve been a poor host, Gestalt, your glass is empty, would you care for anything else?”

“I fink I better quit while I’m ahead.” I roll my eyes at myself – all of them except Teddy’s – but the grin he shows is the most heartfelt I’ve smiled in ages. “But first I better hit the head.” _She _rolls _her_ eyes at me now. I walk down the hall to the loo and close the door. All the bodies are pacing, chewing my thumbnails. I definitely don’t want her to think I’m here for anything too fast, and I definitely need to adjust Teddy’s trousers after that intense moment. I really don’t want to go, but without pressuring her about her memories or my place in her life, I can’t find a reason to stay.

She meets me in the hall after a flush & wash, and her smile is a little kinder now. Each quad has changed for bed. They lie, staring at the ceiling, focused on whatever comes next.

“Thank you, actually, for coming by. I think the distance has been good for me, but you’ve given me a lot to think about. Still, it has been lonely, so it was nice to have company.” All the bodies break into smiles, and I lower Teddy’s eyes so he can look up at her through the long lashes both twins have.

“Yah, t’b’honest, missin ya gave me a chance to process evverthin. I did wanter say sorry for bein brutal t’ya after I found out. It was messy, but ya dinnint deserve that.”

“Thanks for saying that, but you said a lot of true things. I didn’t know who to trust – and video-me could have done a little better explaining our dynamic – but now that I am a little more caught up, I am really sorry that I hurt you, Gestalt.” She puts her hand on Teddy’s bicep – a little flicker from her eyes there – and a genuine look that lasts a little too long.

We both kind of stammer and break apart at the same time, so I open the closet to get Teddy’s suitcoat. As I shrug it on, she straightens the shoulders, turns down the collar, and wipes away a few stray hairs. Myf notices that Teddy’s slicked-back hair is hitting his collar. She curls her finger around the turned up bits at his nape. “Your hair is a little too long back here, you’ll need to get it cut –“ her hand freezes and my body goes rigid at the memory. She says so quietly, “There it is again.” I don’t move, wanting her to remember. “There it is.” I nod Teddy’s head, slowly. “Have we done this?” I nod again, not turning around. “Can you tell me?”

“Are you sure?” I pause to let her answer but nothing comes. “You don’t have to remember her…know her…if ya don want.” I take a very deep breath, still with my back to her, and I’m grateful she can’t see my face – that I only brought the one body. “You can leave it lie, if you like.” The last line isn’t meant as a threat, but it rumbles from Teddy’s throat almost like one.

There’s another moment of silence, and I hear her shift her weight. “Please. I would like to hear.”

“Commencement.” I turn around slowly, not wanting her to lose the visual, but wanting to be able to see something of her face. Dammit, only bringing one of me, there are definitely tradeoffs. “All of me had been given our individual roles, picked our work personas and the clothes to go wiffem. You helped each body a lot, since I hadn’t really been out in the world at all. You showed Robert fashion magazines & Eliza career-women’s catalogs. I knew I wanted Alex in casuals. Andja went with Teddy to get’is first bespoke suit. We picked a good one, but this hair was too curly and wild. The tailor kept cluckin, pickin stray hairs off evverthin, compared me to a cat sheddin.”

She starts mildly giggling. “It might just be me putting Alex’s hair with the idea of this suit, but I can see it. I can really see it…”

My talking slows; Teddy’s voice drops into his lowest register. “We stopped by a chemist’s and got some mousse. Ya tried t’ave me do it, but I was complete fucking crap. So ya sat Teddy down in front of a mirror and did it yerself. I tried to bring Eliza in to watch from a diffrent angle, so I’d be able to do it better, butcha closed the door to the lav.” My eyes close, remembering the feel of her … of OldMyf’s … hands. “Ya kept running yer hands through m’hair. I didn’t ask ya t’stop.” Her hands right now slide up from Teddy’s collar into the nape of his neck. “When ya did stop, ya brushed all the escaped hairs off my suitcoat collar, then ya curled yer fingers round my too-long hair at the back ov m’neck an tole me I needed a haircut.”

Her fingernails scratch the skin under my hair as she pulls her hands back down. I open Teddy’s eyes, slowly. “The suit was almost black,” she says, looking into his eyes, “darker than this one, with a textured stripe in it. You had this amazing orange-and-yellow striped pocket square.” I flick his eyes down and back up, nod quickly. “I remember Teddy sighing,” she looks up at me, “and then,” her eyes stare into middle-distance, watching something I can’t see, “I remember… I remember telling you about the other memory.”

“The one from the letter,” I say and she nods, standing with space between. I put Teddy’s hands on her shoulders, her own hands knotting again in the back of my hair. “I wanted to kiss you then -- so fucking much. That memory, of the training exercise – it was from before ya started yer private training with Bristol, so I knew…it told me y’had feelins before. But the suit, it was so soon after the fire…” She nods again. “I dinnint wanna be yer fucking rebound.” I take a step back. “So I didn’t.”

“I see.” She pauses so long, I bend Teddy’s head down and catch her eyes with his. “That’s why you get so angry about Bristol.” Teddy’s head jerks, his jaw clenches, and his hands grip – all reflexes nearly out of my control, which Alex mirrors. Eliza’s nails dig into her hands. Robert gets out his phone and sends a group text with all the swear words I’m thinking, screaming in my head. “I recently found out that Farrier made him – ordered him – to seduce me. As part of my training.” Teddy’s fist slams against the door frame at his side.

“You…she – never fucking told me.” Myf reaches down and runs her thumb over the side of Teddy’s fist that hit the wall.

“I’m not sure she knew. Bristol told me as if she didn’t know. And then Farrier got him sanctioned and de-licensed for unprofessional conduct. He was just a pawn – expendable.”

I snort and look off with a sneer on Teddy’s face. Bristol was still her therapist, he still knew he had the power position. But I don’t feel like going into that, and Robert’s texting to the other quads continues, a steady stream of expletives that help deplete the anger. Alex gets up and moves through a few yoga poses, while I have Teddy count breaths to steady himself. A tear streaks down Eliza’s cheek.

“This memory helps, though. It explains some things I’ve been feeling.” All hearts hiccup at that. “And it explains why you brought Teddy and no one else.” She keeps looking at Teddy’s face, his jaw, his throat, his hair. She moves her hands to his shoulders and down his sides while breathing in deeply. I run his hands down her arms and end up cupping her elbows. At home, the other three cross their arms to cup their own elbows.

“Before, in the old days, ya usta seek Teddy out – as opposed to the others. But that was then.” I squeeze her arms with Teddy’s large hands. “I wasn’t anglin for anyfing – I juss fot…ya might prefer t’speak t’him. That he’d feel more…comfortable t’ya.” I keep counting Teddy’s breaths and heartbeats so neither races out of control. I bring his hands down to her wrists, and I step in even closer, her eyes following me. “But I fink our kiss in the infirmary…an that moment in the archives…I don fink you – new you – was fakin.” She shakes her head no, slowly, smally.

I bring my hands together, pass her wrists into one of Teddy’s strong hands and clench them together – another reason he was chosen for this – and pull her towards him, fast and forcefully. The chemistry between this body and hers is like none of the others. She’s practically panting as his face comes too close to hers without touching. Maybe pheromones? It’s clear she is attracted to all the quads, but for some reason, not even identically-twinned Alex can get the same response from her as Teddy. “I fink right now, this minnit…I could ask ya for anyfing I wanted,” I move Teddy’s mouth to her other ear, “andja’d want it, too.”

Her breath quickens, and I find myself supporting more of her weight through her wrists, so I put my other hand back on her elbow and help her stand straight up again. I step back and let the air relax between us. I sigh and look up.

“But that ain’t what I want, Myf.” She looks down, a little confused, a little _interruptus-_angry. “Wif you, I ain’t wanna be what fucking Glengrove trained me to be. I ain’t wanna treat ya as…an objective.” I was taught to use this moment: to get a target all up in their feelings and then take what is wanted – information, mostly – each body in its own way. I can’t do that with her.

“Then what is it you do want?” She looks at me, still coming down from her state, cross and confused.

“What I want – more than annyfing – is for you to choose me. Wiffout persuasion. In yer own time.”

She’s standing on her own, neither of us touching anywhere, I raise Teddy’s eyes to hers.

“I been waitin…waitin more than a decade an it was never the right time for her…OldMyf. An that don’t mean y’owe me anyfing, it just means I can be patient.” I raise a hand to her face and touch her gently on the cheek. “I have a feelin, whoevva you turn out to be – NewMyf, Alice, some ovver name y’ain’t fot of yet – Imma wanna know her. An I want her to get to know me. An to choose me. For real.”

“Gestalt…” That one word is almost enough to undo me, her tone longing and warning and slightly afraid. I need to go. Now.

Another half-smile, corners just barely turned up. “So for now, Imma fuck off.” I straighten my own suitcoat and clear Teddy’s throat. “I’d ask ya t’call if y’need anything – help wif memories, ta talk about Lorik, distraction – but I’ll be off now, then.” I pause for one breath or to see if she’ll say something. She seems to know if she even makes a noise, I will stay, which would be a mistake for us both. I look her right in the eyes to say goodnight, and I’m out the door and down the hall to the stairs, too impatient for the lift.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments welcome -- especially about voice and how the many bodies/one mind portrayal reads.


End file.
